The Ethics of the Missing Straw

Abstract

This case report details the emergency department course of a 34 year-old female who presented with abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding after reportedly falling one week earlier. She was subsequently found to have a drinking straw within her uterus next to an eight week-old live intrauterine pregnancy on ultrasound. This case report and discussion reviews the literature on retained foreign bodies in pregnancy while addressing the added complications of an evasive patient and a difficult consultant with significant intra-specialty disagreement. [West J Emerg Med. 2014;15(2):131–133.]

Keywords

• uterine foreign body
• emergency department
• pregnancy
• ethics